Over RM1bil lost to online scams this year, says CCID director

KUALA LUMPUR: Online scam cases have spiked some 37.5% this year, with losses surpassing the RM1bil mark, says Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf.

The Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director said a total of 32,462 online scam cases were recorded between January and November resulting in losses of about RM1.3bil.

“The number of cases increased some 37.5% compared to the same period last year, where 23,608 cases were recorded.

“The losses last year were lower with RM771.1mil in losses,” he told a press conference after launching the Scam Free Malaysia Carnival in Bukit Jalil on Saturday (Dec 9).

Comm Ramli said investment scams recorded the highest number of losses this year, amounting to RM421mil.

“This is followed by e-commerce scams (RM382mil), telecommunication scams (RM327.9mil), e-finance scams (RM103.6mil), love scam (RM40.9mil) and loan scam (RM38.5mil),” he said.

Comm Ramli said it was astonishing that scam cases, especially investment scams continued to increase nationwide.

“People must remember not to be duped by offers that are too good to be true.

“Only invest in legitimate schemes that have been approved by the respective authorities instead of unbelievable get-rich-quick schemes,” he said.

Meanwhile, on the carnival which is jointly organised by the police and Whoscall powered by Gogolook (anti-scam caller ID application), Comm Ramli said it is aimed at creating more awareness on scam prevention especially in terms of accepting calls from scammers.

“So far, CCID has shared 318,147 scam numbers with Whoscall leading to 41% of the numbers blocked by Whoscall users.

“The collaboration has also led to a drop of 50% in scam calls pick-up rate,” he said.

Comm Ramli said cooperation between the police and other parties such as the private sector, is important to curb commercial crimes especially scams.

“We also hope society will be more vigilant and aware of scam tactics.

“On our part, we will step up investigations and operations to ensure scams can be curbed. We will never tire of creating more awareness on the matter as well,” he said.

Meanwhile, Gogolook chief executive officer Manwoo Joo said the company decided to give away a one-year Whoscall premium worth RM87mil to help safeguard Malaysians from scams.

“The one-year Whoscall premium provides users access to diverse anti-scam tools such as caller ID, auto spam calls block and auto update database.

“We are honoured to work with the police especially CCID in creating more awareness against scams,” he said.